Criminological Perspectives Lecture 1 --> Re-framing theories of criminal behaviour: 18th and 19th century theories

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  • 18C and 19C theories of criminal behaviour
    • Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
      • The Leviathan (1651) -> a authoritarian power is needed otherwise we will be in a ‘state of nature’
      • The fear of an 'unruly and dangerous' society keeps us together and authority figure keeps us safe
    • John Locke (1632-1704)
      • The Social Contract -> we surrender some of our rights to authority to that they can keep us safe
        • eg. we give up our right of retribution so the State can enact justice
    • Beccaria (1738-1794)
      • On Crimes and Punishment (1764)
        • The idea of punishing the offence and not the offender (punishment = proportional to the crime)
        • Was against the barbaric punishments of the time (see punishment of Damian)
        • Individual has free will -> they chose to commit their crime
        • Innocent until proven guilty
    • Bentham (1748-1832)
      • All-Seeing Eye (Panopticon) -> key architecture
      • “Morals reformed - health preserved - industry invigorated - instruction diffused” (Bentham)
      • “The soul becomes the prison of the body” (Foucault, 1977: 30)
    • Lavater (1741-1801)
      • Idea of Phrenology emerged -> measurements / bumps on an individs skull can tell you about their personality
      • Although it is rubbish, it did apply to scientific approach to criminality
    • Lombroso (1835-1909)
      • On Criminal Man (1876) -> shift to the individual. Or rather, it looked at the offender - the abnormal
      • 'Atavistic' nature of criminals
    • Enrico Ferri (1856-1929)
      • Looked at the relationships between social, economic and political factors
        • PHYSICAL factors (race, geography and temperature)
        • INDIVIDUAL factors (age, gender, psychological variables)
        • SOCIAL factors (population, religion, culture)
    • Durkheim (1858-1917)
      • Collapse of social solidarity is the cause of criminal behaviour (urban growth)
      • This lack of a sense of a ‘community’ arguably made people more introverted. This increase in a sense of individualism lead to a break down of what was a collectivist society which caused people to do things that they wanted to do without thinking about the consequences
      • Crime is functional:
        • Too much crime: obvs something wrong within a society
        • Too little crime: society is oppressive, lack of jobs due to low crime etc

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